I had bought a few canna this year. How and when do I pull them and bring them in for this zone 5 ? Any ideas?
Thanks Pam
Hello all MI gardeners. Canna question here.
Dig them up now, cut off any growth, rinse off the tubers and store them away for the winter in a cool, dry place. Don't let them stay moist over the winter as they will rot.
Anne
Hi Anne,
Thanks a lot. Will do it in the morning. :)
Pam
Wai until the frost kills the foilage, then dig them.
Cut off the stems, was off the tubers and let dry throughly.
Pl;ace into a PAPER bag. and store in a cool dark location 35-45 degrees F.
Paul
Paul, I did just as you said and mine dried up. Should I have checked them and added some moisture? I was bummed. I had 10 of them and not a one made it. sob..
Well I do not want mine to die to.arggggggg Does anyone have any other ideas?
Alice
this is the notmartha way!
I leave the dirt on them and toss em in the cellar-i have stored the other way and they dried out to dust!! I leave them in a bushel basket not alot of dirt but leave some
But i dont do canna anymore here in michigan-to much work! had 20 kinds once long ago-not anymore!!!
good luck
Notmartha is right. Leave some dirt on. Beware of mice dining. Decon will guard them nicely. I store them in an onion bag for airflow.
OK thanks a lot
Hmmmmmm...I don't why, probably just dumb luck, but for the past 5 years or so I've done everything wrong (according to many sources) and still have more canna tubers than I can handle and every year there are more to store.
I wait until the frost has killed the foliage (Still not there this year...but soon, I hope). I cut the foliage off and leave the tubers in the ground for a day or so (Don't ask why...I must have read it somewhere.) Then when I have time to dig, they all get dug up, washed clean of any soil. They are then left to dry in a shady spot out of direct sunlight for a couple of days. Then they are stored in mesh laundry or camping bags...they hang in my basement storage room (about 55° constant) until spring when I dump them all out and plant them.
I usually have 'casualties' amounting to 10-15% of what went into the bags. But I'm not the best when it comes to 'spritzing' the tubers...or even checking on them once I have them packed up.
When I'm digging and washing the tubers, I break them into new divisions. I've never powdered them with antifungal powder. (I know...shame on me). LOL
Now, you have to understand, the cannas I've grown (up until this year) are plain old standard 5-6' red ones. And I was only growing them because someone gave me a huge bucket of left overs they had. I like the plants because they are HUGE and, for the most part, don't need anything spectacular in the way of 'care.'
THIS year is a different story. I've finally gotten back into gardening after 40 years of kids, a job and husband...*and* I met the DG site with it's co-ops and friendly traders. So...I've also gained some gorgeous cannas that I really *don't* want to lose 10-15% of during storage. ;-)
I opened this thread to see if y'all had a better method of overwintering these beauties than the ones I've read that take a lot of 'remembering' through the cold months.
Think I'll try a few experiments (as listed here and on other sites) to see which works best for me. And yes...those old red standards will *still* get tossed into the mesh bags. LOL
Thanks for the info.
~julie~
Hi julie,
Thanks a lot for the info. I will follow your info and see what happens.
Pam
The older hybrid cannas can winter over quite easily using the mesh bag and a cool frost free room. Wintering over some of the newer hybrid cannas is more successful with soil . I lightly sprinkle my cannas once a week to prevent dehydration with insecticidal soap spray. I also sprinkle sulfur on them to ward off disease.